Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday expressed regrets on causing ‘inconvenience’ to people in Chandigarh after his visit brought the entire city to standstill.

Modi was in Chandigarh on Friday to inaugurate the first international airport.

The administration had shut down all schools and colleges because of his visit and cancelled the exams scheduled for Friday.

PM Modi’s tweet said, ” The inconvenience caused to citizens in Chandigarh, especially shutting of schools due to my visit is regretted. It was totally avoidable.”

There were also reports of a parking lot at the main crematorium in the heart of the city being turned into parking space for a public rally nearby that was addressed by the PM. Bereaving families were asked to use another crematorium in the western part of the city.

Brigadier Devinder Singh, who fought in the Kargil war in 1999 against Pakistan, could not cremate his 24-year-old son, killed in a road accident yesterday.

He told NDTV that he was taking the dead body of his son to Mohali as the main crematorium in Chandigarh was not available because of Modi’s rally.

10 local Congress leaders were also detained ahead of his Chandigarh visit as the administration feared that they would show black flags to the prime minister.

As expected, Congress has lashed out on Modi and his party, the BJP, for causing inconvenience to common people.

Congress’ Prinyanka Chaturvedi wrote on twitter;

Enquiry&apology for shutting down Chandigarh after Pradhan VVIP's trip is complete? Sham&Shame.